Friends .
It seems to be common believe that TSO = good quality and non TSO = cheap stuff. The price differences of the objects in question helps to come to that conclusion.(hence the Chinese instruments brought into these discussions, because Chinese is commonly equaled to a lesser quality). A non TSO'd instrument does not mean automatically a lesser quality product, it means merely that a certain product meets an established standard of production and quality control. E.g. tolerances and use of material. If this standard had been established in the seventies and the product approval happened to that time, you'll will get a high quality product that meets the standards from some over thirty years ago along with the materials and production processes of that time. No new carbon fiber, no new computer controlled fine machined parts, just the approved old stuff. This is the down side of these rules . Further development is costly - one has to pass the re-certification process. When I brought my UMA airspeed instrument in for repair, the lady at the shop assured me that TSO does not automatically means better. She told me that even some of the Chin Wa type of instruments appear to be built sturdy and reliable - come to your own conclusions. UMA is producing TSO'd and non TSO'd instruments. I wouldn't believe that they would come up with two totally different production standards and quality controls between these two lines. That would not be an economical production process. Their TSO'd airspeed meter look identical to the non-Tso'd ones , they weigh the same, only the sticker with the serial number and TSO stamp is different. Here again come to your own conclusions. Since we Ercoupers can choose between all available sources when shopping for aircraft instruments, I would base my decision more on quality reports rather than a TSO label. One should get a product his money worth and not just pay for the costly certification process. And mistake that for quality. UMA instruments is an American company http://www.umainstruments.com/ Hartmut _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Contacts: Organize your contact list. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/marcusatmicrosoft.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!503D1D86EBB2B53C!2285.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_UGC_Contacts_032009
